Fiat Chrysler strategizes on a completely new product lineup for India

At the Auto Expo, Fiat created a new entry point with the Punto. The Linea 125S that is powered by a TJet petrol engine will be launched mid this year.Pranbihanga Borpuzari | ECONOMICTIMES.COM | February 05, 2016, 12:34 IST

Chrysler is in talks to lease U.S. production capacity and share retail distribution with Fiat SpA, allowing the Italian automaker to return the U.S. market for the first time in 25 years, people briefed on the talks said on Wednesday, July 30. Chrysler, the No. 3 U.S. automaker, has also been in discussions with India's Tata Motors Ltd. about selling its Jeep Wrangler SUV in India and possibly other Asian markets, said the sources, who were not authorized to discuss the negotiations. A spokesman for Chrysler, which is controlled by private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP, declined to confirm the talks. A Tata representative had no immediate comment. Cerberus and Fiat representatives could not be reached immediately.Fiat Chrysler Automobiles India says it is working on a completely new product lineup for India even as it continues rolling out new versions of the Punto and Linea in the country.

"We have three pillars of strategy in India. I have been here 11 months and my first job was to get a hold of the business. We have worked really hard with our dealers on the infrastructure and the commercial arrangements with us and how we can make sure they are more stable," says FCA APAC, President and Managing Director, Kevin Flynn.

Flynn says Fiat is currently at the middle pillar that looks to provide ways to navigate to the third stage. At the Auto Expo, Fiat created a new entry point with the Punto. The Linea 125S that is powered by a TJet petrol engine will be launched mid this year. The Avventura Urban Cross is the third product Fiat plans to launch towards the third quarter of this year. Fiat says while it continues to roll out variants and upgrades of the Punto and Linea, the company is already concurrently working on the next generation of entirely new product lineup for India.

"This brings us to my third pillar, which is what do we look like two years from now? This includes the segments we would operate in and the next generation of products that we will launch. This is close to some king of fruition and we will soon be able to lock this down. We have done a lot of hard work on this and engineering efforts have been pushed to get this rolling," says Flynn.

A key component of this will be the first Made in India Jeep that will be rolled out next year. Fiat has already earmarked $280 million to upgrade its Ranjangaon plant. He adds that every segment and what works within that segment has already been mapped and inputs from the dealer network has been incorporated to come up with the product strategy.

"From the Fiat product prospective, I would like us to be further than where we are today. The fact that major car manufacturers in India use our engines and transmission in their car says an awful lot about our engineering and capabilities. This has also in a way given solidity to our business here," says Flynn.

Fiat has already announced that it will launch the Jeep Wrangler and Cherokee by mid-2016 and will be available first in Diesel engines, but closely followed by the petrol engine. The company is expected to have standalone Jeep dealership in the metros, while it will use the existing Fiat dealership across smaller cities.

Prices of most SUVs were cut between Rs 1.1 lakh and Rs 3 lakh following the implementation of GST, which subsumed over a dozen central and state levies like excise duty, service tax, and VAT from July 1.